DTB Group's director of finance and strategy acquired an additional 397,740 shares during the year ended 2024 signaling his confidence in the lender's outlook.
Alkarim Jiwa bought shares valued at an estimated Sh28.2 million at Friday's closing price of Sh71 on the Nairobi Securities Exchange. Mr Jiwa, who has served at the bank for 27 years, held 76,260 shares at the end of 2023 before upping his stake in 12 months to 474,000 shares.
This is the second year in a row that Mr Jiwa is increasing his shareholding having held 60 shares till the end of 2022.
His holding is now higher than that of the Group’s Chief Executive Nasim Devji whose stake remained at 263,022 shares valued at Sh18.6 million.
Insiders buying into the company through the open market is usually a mark of their confidence in the future plans of the institution they are serving.
DTB's share price has gained 43 percent at the bourse in the last year indicating investor appetite for the regional lender. The bank has been on an expansion drive locally and in the region.
Last year it increased its branch network to 158 units by opening six new branches as it pushes to grow its customer base. The lender had a customer base of 3.1 million at the end of last year, up from 1.3 million in 2023 and eyes to grow the number to 10 million by the end of 2026.
The bank has subsidiaries in Uganda, Tanzania and Burundi. DTB’s staff numbers have also been on the rise at a time when most lenders have sought to check their staff cost, owing to a tough economic environment.
Last year the top tier lender hired 392 additional employees. Its net profit rose 11 percent in the year ended 2024 to Sh7.6 billion.
Other options open for executives to get stakes in their companies include participating in Employee Share Ownership Programme (ESOP) or receipt of shares in lieu of cash for bonus payments. DTB does not have an ESOP option. ESOP allows staff to buy shares at discounted prices.
The shares usually have a lock-in period before they are exercised and are used as an incentive to retain staff. Some of the banks that have ESOP include Equity Group and HF Group.
Some of the banks that award shares to top executives as part of their remuneration, mainly as performance based bonus, include Standard Chartered Bank Kenya.
The shares also have a holding period in which they cannot be exercised serving the same purpose as ESOP of retaining top talent.
Standard Chartered disclosed it had awarded its chief executive, Kariuki Ngari, 11,600 shares last year as part of his pay package. The shares have a three year holding period.
